Meet Kadian Hall | Creative Director & Director of Photography

We had the good fortune of connecting with Kadian Hall and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Kadian, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
At a young age, I knew that being my own boss was the direction that I was aiming for. I constantly found myself in positions of leadership, this especially came to a head in undergrad while studying Electro-mechanical Engineering at the University of Hartford. I was apart of multiple groups on campus, one being CAT (Campus Activities Team), my role at the time was head of student publicity where I would lead our creative teams.

I was able to wear multiple hats during this period where I would be involved in hospitality, bidding, and advertising meetings. This was when I realized being within the creative realm was my natural habitat.

One day I walked into CAT, and saw that program director Felecia Bumpus had purchased a Panasonic Lumix G7 4K camera for our team to use. This inspired me to dive into the world of storytelling. I began filming campus activations and quickly learned how to edit videos that would be displayed on monitors all throughout the campus.

Post grad, I was working as an aerospace engineer at Pratt and Whitney, a Raytheon Technologies company while forming Juice Picture Studios LLC in 2017.

Fortunately, I realized early in my career that the corporate setting wasn’t the path that I wanted to pursue and early pandemic when the opportunity presented itself, I decided to pivot towards my creative career.

On December 1, 2021, I shipped my car to Los Angeles. Having the mental toughness to leave Connecticut was challenging for me because I didn’t have a single client or job prior to the move. I just knew once I got to LA that I would figure it out. I joined several facebook groups where I discovered camera operator, aerial cinematography, and activation photography roles. It was truly a blessing that I was able to work with several crews early on.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
In the industry my title is creative director with disciplines as director of photography (DP) and photographer. My work focuses on capturing a moment in time, whether it’s portraiture, lifestyle imagery, or just the perfect light.

I enjoy working in a collaborative setting as nothing feels better than working with an energetic production team. I respect everyone’s talents and I appreciate the effort that goes into every shoot.

Having the ability to be very social has given me the upper hand to shine in many rooms where there may be a producer or future client present. Working in corporate America taught me how to articulate myself amongst many people in a professional manner.

Most creative professionals have difficulty being social because their raw talent is to be an artist, I believe it’s important to attend events, reach out to brands, and put energy towards social media. This has helped me tremendously throughout my career.

I wouldn’t call it easy, I typically send around 50 emails a week, and most of my responses are “unfortunately, we’re not looking to work with creatives at the moment”, or “we have a guy already.” No matter the outcome, I’ll always keep a positive attitude because I know there is a producer out there who is looking for me but don’t know I exist.

I’ve learned many lessons throughout my journey thus far. A very important lesson that I’ve learned is to always be transparent and upfront with whoever you’re working with. Whether that’s negotiating a rate or discussing the project scope. It’s extremely important to have alignment in the beginning to avoid miscommunications with a company. There were projects that I agreed to where I didn’t get my full day rate because early on in my career it was difficult conversation to have.

My short term goal is to grow Juice Picture to a multi-million dollar production company while extending my network globally. I’m a strong advocate for diversity, therefore I’ll continue to push for diverse crews. I see myself directing commercial campaigns for fortune 500 companies while later transitioning to narrative feature films. A long term goal is to teach! Show young individuals how to become established and build relationships with brands. I feel that many people who “made it” are scared to reveal industry secrets and tactics. I’ll strive to impact many communities while developing a pipeline for inner city youth to make their way to world of advertising & entertainment.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
If my best friend was coming to LA, I would start off in Hollywood and do tourist attractions such as the Walk of Fame, Hollywood Sign, and the Griffiths Observatory.

Midday, I’ll slide over to West Hollywood to check out local bars such as EP&LP, Melrose Place, or the Pendry Hotel for bar bites and cocktails.

To burn off the food, I’ll either head over to Century City Mall or The Grove. Those two locations happen to be my favorite places to shop.

After walking the mall, it’s probably time for a nap. We’ll head back to my place in Hollywood to recharge for a few hours until it’s time to head out for dinner.

For dinner, my favorites places are Mastro’s, Ocean Prime or Eddie V’s. I really love great steak and seafood coming from the East Coast.

For night life, depending on the night, we could end up at Bungalow in Santa Monica or The Classic Cat in West Hollywood.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
There were a handful of organizations and individuals who supported me along the way. I’d like to give a huge shoutout to my family, especially my sisters. They were all huge supporters of mine throughout my childhood while helping me stay on track with school, basketball, and my business needs.

My father has also been a huge inspiration to me with his dominant presence of being a “go getter”. Watching him balance his company and day job for many years has been motivational. This definitely sparked the ambition that I have today.

Website: www.kadianhall.com

Instagram: @kadianhall_

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kadianhall/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kadian.hall.7/

Image Credits
Jacob Alexander Nathaniel Ninomiya